A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains or may contain material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the photocopy reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure in exactly the form it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present invention relates in general to a gaming device, and more particularly to a gaming device having outcomes which replicate the laws of physics.
Gaming devices provide enjoyment and excitement to players, in part, because they may ultimately lead to monetary awards for the players. Gaming devices also provide enjoyment and excitement to the players because they are fun to play. Bonus games, in particular, provide gaming device manufacturers with the opportunity to add enjoyment and excitement to that which is already expected from a base game of the gaming device. Bonus games provide extra awards to the player and enable the player to play a game that is different than the base game.
A continuing need exists to provide gaming devices that issue awards in exciting and enjoyable manners. In this respect, it is desirable to enable the player to have an impact on, or a hand in, determining their award. It is also desirable to enable a player to optimize an award. It is further desirable to increase this level of player interaction. Each of these features is desirable in a base or primary game and in a bonus or secondary game.
One popular game, common to gaming establishments, is pachinko. Pachinko is extremely popular in Japan and can be found in certain casinos in the United States. Originally, pachinko machines consisted of mechanical pegs or nails extending from a board or background, which were spaced apart in a predefined manner. The game used small steel balls of approximately xc2xd inch diameter. More recently, following the trend in the gaming industry, computerized pachinko games now exist with realistic sounds and graphics as well as additional sounds and graphics to make the game more exciting.
In mechanical or video form, pachinko involves the same principles. The player inserts money into a game and receives a number of balls or tries in a loading area. In older systems, the player typically pulls a spring-loaded pinball like handle or knob and shoots a single pachinko ball into an upright or angled play area where the ball bounces from one mechanical or simulated peg or nail to another, through the network of pegs or nails.
In newer systems, the player sets a motor speed so that the ball speed falls somewhere between barely entering the play area to rocketing into the play area. In either type of mechanical system, the pachinko ball either falls unsuccessfully to the bottom of the play area or into a winning pocket, whereby the player wins a prize. In pachinko games, most of the balls fall unsuccessfully through the playing area.
In the mechanical version, the player controls the speed at which the ball leaves the spring-loaded handle. Otherwise the laws of physics control the outcome. Pachinko games are simple, interactive and considered by many people to be fun and exciting to watch or play. Accordingly, pachinko makes for an entertaining primary or bonus game in a gaming device.
In creating a realistic pachinko type game, a need exists to provide the player the ability to control the starting point for the ball, chip or object to enter the play area. A need also exists to provide a pachinko type game that follows or appears to follow or replicate the laws of physics, so that the starting point of the object affects the ending point of the object. That is, there exists a need to provide a pachinko-type gaming machine in which it appears that the player has control over the game""s outcome. Finally, it is desirable that these features be coupled to a game having predictable payouts so that the game designer can accurately predict a payout percentage and employ a random number generator to generate the predictable payouts.
The present invention provides a gaming device having a game that may be implemented in a primary or bonus game. More specifically, the present invention provides a processor controlled gaming device that randomly generates and displays a pachinko-type game and outcome on a screen connected to or controlled by the processor. The gaming device initially provides a preliminary game that yields the number of attempts or objects that the player has in the pachinko-type game. Next, the game displays the pachinko-type game screen having a player selectable starting area. The starting area is large enough so that when the player picks a certain position of the area, the object appears to fall from the selected position, hits a plurality of pegs and lands in an award position. The selected start position affects which award position that the object eventually falls into in accordance with a probability distribution predicted by the laws of physics. The player""s award, however, is not effected by which start position the player selects.
The game displays the starting area to the player but preferably does not display the start positions that the area encompasses. This way, the player must learn that selecting different parts of the area affects the initial falling point for the object. The screen preferably operates in conjunction with a touch screen that maps the coordinates of the start positions on the display device. When the player unknowingly or otherwise selects a particular start position, the touch screen sends a discrete input of the coordinates selected by the player""s touch on the display device to the processor. The processor then directs the object to fall from the selected start position or a position adjacent to the selected coordinates. In an alternative embodiment, the game provides or displays separate start positions instead of a single starting area.
After the game provides the number of attempts via the preliminary game, the player may start the pachinko-type game. When the player selects the starting area, one of the objects falls, hits a first peg and changes direction; falls, hits a second peg and changes direction, etc. Eventually, the object falls into an award position having a corresponding award, and the game issues the award to the player. The player and game repeat this process for each object or attempt given to the player. The pegs have coordinates on the display device and when any portion of the object touches or intersects a coordinate set of a peg, the object changes direction on the display device.
The objects move according to paths maintained in the memory device of the gaming device. The paths map out, for any given start position and award position, which and how many pegs that the object hits when traveling from position to position. The game includes a plurality of different paths for each start position, which adds variety and excitement to the game. The more likely outcomes, i.e., the ones that will more likely occur according to the laws of physics, will occur more frequently and are associated to more paths.
The game also stores a set of data in the memory device, which sets the overall probability of generating any one of the different awards. If two or more award positions provide the same award value, the overall probability is divided between the two or more award values. For a given start position, the probability division is made based on the relative number of paths associated with each award position and the start position. That is, if there are twice as many paths from the start position to a first award position than there are to a second award position, the first award position is more likely to be generated. Both probabilities, though, add to the overall probability set in memory. This way, the game appears to be in accordance with the laws of physics and also provides a predictable payout percentage.
It is therefore an advantage of the present invention that the gaming device provides a pachinko-type game.
It is another advantage of the present invention that the gaming device provides a pachinko-type game in which the player has the ability to control the starting point for the object to enter the play area.
It is also an advantage of the present invention that the gaming device provides a pachinko-type game that follows or appears to follow the laws of physics, so that the starting point affects the ending point.
It is a further advantage of the present invention that the gaming device provides a pachinko-type game in which it appears that the player has some control over the game""s outcome.
It is yet another advantage of the present invention that the gaming device provides a pachinko-type game having predictable payouts so that the game designer can accurately predict a payout percentage.
It is still another advantage of the present invention that the gaming device provides a pachinko-type game with multiple starting positions, wherein each has the same expected value.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed disclosure, taken in conjunction with the accompanying sheets of drawings, wherein like numerals refer to like parts, elements, components, steps and processes.